


Home is where our lost time is

by dusk037



Category: Hey! Say! JUMP, Johnny's Entertainment, KAT-TUN (Band)
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Get Backers AU, I'm sorry this is confusing af, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-08
Updated: 2015-09-08
Packaged: 2018-04-19 18:17:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4756322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dusk037/pseuds/dusk037
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Fate.</i> A load of bullsh**, according to Yamada Ryosuke. (aka the Get Backers AU made of fail)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Home is where our lost time is

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2014 edition of the yutoyama exchange (Summer anniversary).
> 
> Recipient-san, hi! I heard you wanted an AU, I also heard you like cute snark (both of which I am not good at). But I hope you like this anyway. All my thanks to mod-san, for her endless patience. This also wouldn’t have come to life if it weren’t for the prayer circle, holding my hand, letting me whine and cheering for me. I’m sorry (not sorry) for torturing you with the angstiest bits. Oops?

A knock, _once, twice_ , and the drapes are raised. Ohara Sakurako opens the door with a smile, the bell making a tiny ringing noise as the door swings inward. She flips the sign so it says _open_ , inviting a pair of young men in. She steps aside, her feet light and her voice cheerful as she greets them with a warm, “Welcome!”

“Hello, Sakurako-chan,” Nakajima Yuto greets back with an enthusiasm as bright as his shock of a blond hair. Beside him, Yamada Ryosuke adjusts his sunglasses. The other man regards Sakurako with a nod and a slight upward turn of his lips, the closest to a smile he’s managed to direct at anyone other than Yuto. Both men make their way towards the counter, where they each take a seat next to the other.

“One cup of your special, please,” Yamada says with an air of importance.

The man behind the counter momentarily halts his obsessive cleaning, a habit born out of the desire to keep things clean and in top shape―nothing less than sparkly so he can tell from behind the sunglasses sitting atop his crooked nose. Kamenashi Kazuya puts the dishrag away.

“Are you going to pay for it?” Kamenashi Kazuya grumbles, his tone equal parts annoyed and resigned, already starting the brew even as Yamada says, cheekily, _”Put it in our tab!”_

“I’m getting the same, master,” Yuto tells the owner, calmer, more relaxed. His eyes convey the unspoken, _”forgive him, he’s an idiot,”_ and Kame understands. It’s an everyday occurrence, after all, and for all the ways Kame is tart with either of them when they walk into his coffee shop, he actually thinks of them as his own.

“To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit, this time?” Kame casually starts, placing two steaming cups of coffee in front of Yamada and Yuto.

Yamada’s face is an icy calm, but his voice betrays the rage he can barely control. “Tell us what you know. All of it.”

“About what?” Kame responds coolly.

Suddenly Yamada is onto him, grabbing Kame’s collar, his patience worn far too thin for games like this one. “You have access to any and all types of information, data at the ready to use up and modify as you will, despite retiring from the _Get Backers_.” He stares hard into the other man’s bespectacled eyes through the lens of his own sunglasses―a sight to laugh at, had it happened at any other time. “You know what I’m talking about,” Yamada all but growls. He lets go of Kame’s collar.

“You’ve just shown me exactly why I don’t want to tell you,” Kame starts, still a picture of calm. “If you barge in as rash as you currently are, you’ll only get killed. I don’t any of want that on my conscience.”

“I apologize for Ryo-chan, but I understand his feelings,” Yuto speaks up. “It’s just that, so much has been going on and we can’t even begin to make sense of it. Why’d Jin-senpai decide to make an appearance now? And to have Keito taken away right before our eyes…” he lets that hang in the air, the thought far too much for him to bear.

“Y’know what, forget it,” Yamada stands up from his perch, making his way out of the coffee shop. “I’ll just figure it out on my own.”

“Really? You’re gonna leave before the best part? And, for just this occasion, free?” Kame rises to remove his apron. He looks to Sakurako, eye contact suffice enough that the girl bounds over to flip the sign at the door to _closed_ , and lower the drapes. Kame thanks Sakurako as she settles with her schoolwork at one of the booths, taking advantage of the sudden downtime.

Yamada settles back in his seat. “Well, then,” Kame begins with a question, “do you know how the Infinity Fortress came to be?”

Yamada shakes his head, as does Yuto. It's Yuto who speaks next, “That’s where I grew up but there’s still so much that I don’t know about it.”

Kame nods, acknowledging Yuto’s response. Addressing both young men, he continues, “Let’s start with what we know. During the great depression, when people can hardly afford to buy food, let alone a place to live, the homeless started populating the ruins of an unfinished intelligent building. Eventually, the variety of people coming to stay grew enough to establish its own economic circle.”

“And where’s the catch?” Yamada asks, beginning to piece together the picture Kame was explaining to them.

Kame takes a sip of coffee from his own cup before starting again. “I don’t know how life was before my time, but as far I knew, the Infinity Fortress has always existed. No one really knows the truth behind it, but not a single soul seems bothered by that.

“Except for two people. Through thick and thin, these two were inseparable, and knowing that something odd was going on, they unraveled the mystery. They both entered the gates of the Infinity Fortress, and realized everyone had lost something.” Kame reaches up to remove his sunglasses.

“Master, your eyes―” Yuto says, at the same time that Yamada lets out, “It’s that mark―” It’s their first time seeing Kame’s eyes without the barrier of his sunglasses, .

“No―it wasn’t lost, but actually stolen. I’m talking about _time_ ,” Kame continues without stopping. “They both reached the top of the Infinity Fortress, to a place called the Babylon City, searching for that stolen time.”

A pause, and Kame’s eyes are hooded when he continues. “My memory starts to fail after that. Despite the fact that those two were the most formidable pair in town, the mystery of the stolen time, and of Babylon City, remained unsolved. One day they were walking into the Fortress, the next was waking up at their starting point feeling they’ve been hit by a truck.”

He raises his head and for a fleeting moment, Kame has this unreadable, faraway look in his eyes. “They parted ways after that, half of them leaving the Infinity Fortress for good. The other stayed behind, having found a love and starting over with a family of his own.” Kame chuckles, and Yamada wonders if he imagined the bitter note there. “That’s what he said, and I believed him completely.”

Yuto and Yamada share a look. Kame shakes himself out of that mental place, “What he actually did was try to figure it out by himself. He stayed behind to unravel that one mystery, and eventually became the most-feared man there. Akanishi Jin.

“That idiot of a partner,” Kame concludes, for lack of anything else to say. He puts his sunglasses back on. “It’s an old story, really. I doubt it even matters anymore, it’s your generation’s turn, anyhow.”

There’s a smirk on Yamada’s lips. “Of course we are,” he says with confidence.

“As always, so full of yourself,” Kame retorts, the words lacking any real bite. A small smile curls up on his own lips, watching as the young men take their leave.

The bell rings as the door swings shut behind Yamada and Yuto, and Sakurako breaks the silence that follows.

“I wonder if they’ll be okay,” she wonders aloud. She rises from her seat in the booth and sets her school things aside, bounding over to Kame.

“Who knows?” Kame replies with a shrug, but in his mind he knows the answer.

…

“Hey, Ryo-chan.” Yuto calls out to Yamada. “This retrieval case, it’s not unlike any of our usual, right?” They’re in their car, parked legally for once, a few blocks away from the gates of Infinity Fortress. At any other time while on a retrieval mission, Yamada would park their car―a Subaru 360 they inherited from the previous generation of Get Backers―basically _anywhere_. He catches Yamada’s gaze, not liking what he sees in there. “Why do I feel like you know something that I don’t?”

Yamada doesn’t respond to that. ”We’re probably gonna lose our lives this time around, are you sure you wanna do this?” He asks instead, his own hand pausing on the door of the Lady Bug. He looks at Yuto in the eye, his face full of everything and nothing―his worries, his hopes, his … _love_ , plainly written there.

Yuto meets his gaze, resolute. “We’re professionals. That’s always a risk we take.” The determined set of his face then melts into a warm smile as he continues, “Besides, we’re the Get Backers, and the S in our name means we never have to be alone, right? We’ll see to the end of this retrieval,” the smile remains on his lips, but Yamada can see the resolve form and solidify in Yuto’s eyes, “ _together._ ”

Yamada’s eyes begins to shine with something like pride, love, and a whole bunch of other things he can’t even begin to name, and he nods at Yuto. The younger man nods back, and the moment is broken.

They exit and close the Lady Bug’s doors gently. Yamada even traces a light, reverent path over his side of the car, trying and failing to be subtle about it. Yuto stifles a snort-giggle and that earns him a glare for mocking. He may laugh, but Yuto understands Yamada’s sentiments, shares the same feelings. For all the times they’ve made the Lady Bug flip and defy gravity with Yamada’s less than ideal driving; for all the times they’ve scraped the bottom of their usually empty wallets for parking ticket fees. This is their shared space―a temporary home and a sanctuary all their own. Always at the end of the day, after hanging around the Honky Tonk with Kame and the crew, or at the bridge within sight of Infinity Fortress (when Yamada allows Yuto a visit into his past), after a job ~~failed~~ ~~botched~~ well done, it’s just the two of them. Yamada Ryosuke and Nakajima Yuto.

The rest of their walk towards the gates of Infinity Fortress is in comfortable silence, broken by the occasional squabble over the most trivial of things, and that is how they run into Takizawa Hideaki.

“Ah, Yuto-kun. It’s been a while,” Takizawa greets him.

“Takki-senpai!” Yuto’s already breaking into a teary smile at the presence in front of him. “It’s really has been a while.” Takizawa took him in as a child, lost in the midst of rubble and rain. The little Yuto had no idea where his mother was, or what she looked like. One day, he just left Yuto without turning back.

“You’ve helped me out so much, that despite everything, it feels like you’ve been there the whole time!” Yuto dabs at his eyes with his shirtsleeves.

“Ah! I have a partner now!” Yuto gestures to Yamada.

Takizawa beams at Yuto, then, turning to face the other man, he ventures, “Yamada Ryosuke, right?”

Yamada chokes on his air at the word Yuto used, but he quickly collects himself. “You know my name?”

“You’re the man with the Evil Eye,” Takizawa doesn’t miss a beat, “of course your name’s famous ‘round these parts.”

“Gee, thanks, I’m blushing,” Yamada says back. “So what’s the deal, suddenly showing up after running out on Yutti?”

Yuto nudges at Yamada, _”Ryo-chan, don’t.”_

“You don’t have to, Yuto-kun,” Takizawa holds Yamada’s gaze. “It’s true, anyway. I left you for a selfish reason, and I’m atoning for that.”

“Pfft,” Yamada scoffs, “I’ve seen two people with the same mark, and they’d both lost something in the Infinity Fortress. What are the chances you’d have come to use Yutti for your gain?”

“Ryo-chan, it’s okay,” Yuto touches Yamada’s shoulder. He turns to Takizawa, “There’s something else, right?”

Takizawa shakes his head, rueful. “You know me so well, Yuto-kun.” He smiles a small smile, “I found out something about your family. About your mother.”

Yuto freezes in his tracks. “You did?” he asks, momentarily stunned.

“They’re at the top of the Infinity Fortress. Babylon City.”

Yuto lets out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. “Babylon City, huh.” He looks up, the clusters of buildings comprising the Infinity Fortress looming overhead, the very top of it invisible to the naked eye, covered by a mix of clouds and fog.

Takizawa’s eyes flash in warning, “If you’re planning to head there, then don’t. I can only imagine just how much they’re more powerful than we all are, god-like in their strength. Fight them and you won’t make it back alive.

“Well, I have to head back to my rat’s nest―” he walks away, “I need to get back the time I also lost. And maybe, in the process, I can get back the bond that we shared, too.”

Yuto stays in place, the man who took him in as a boy walking away from him again, but this time he feels no pain; this time, he knows their paths will cross again. He starts heading the other way when Yamada calls out to him, catching something small and shiny in his palm.

“What’s this?” Yuto asks, studying the coin Yamada had tossed his way.

“I got a job for you, Yutti.” Yamada explains. “Some bastard took Keito away. He’s like a brother to me; he took care of me back then, I want to at least repay his kindness.”

Yuto nods his understanding, expresses his consent. He tosses the coin back to Yamada. “In that case, I got a job for you, too.

I don’t know what she looks like, nor have I met her, but I heard she was in Babylon City. I don’t believe I was abandoned here; I think she was taken away from me.”

Yamada considers Yuto’s words. “Yeah, that might be the case.”

Yuto brightens up. “Then, let’s have a deal. I take your job and you take mine.”

“Deal,” Yamada nods, and they shake their hands.

They arrive at an empty alley, or what remained of it, a gaping hole where the road is supposed to be.

Yuto looks around, taking in his surroundings. “This part of town hasn’t changed at all. Do you remember, Ryo-chan?”

“This is where we first met,” Yamada nods in reply.

_It had been an ordinary day for Yuto. Or as ordinary as living in the slums of the Infinity Fortress, aptly named the Lower Town, would be. A crowd of people have gathered ‘round Yuto, women, children, and the occasional teenager alike. He’s doing a lightshow, shooting sparks from the tips of his fingers. He smiles as the children look on in wide-eyed wonder._

_Then among the crowd comes a monster, taking a child right before his eyes, snapping the poor one’s neck. Yuto blanks out, swallowed up by disbelief, then the rage, and everything is awash with the raw power coming from within Yuto. When the light dies down, nothing is left._

_A stranger with silver hair spiked up, sea urchin style, had walked in, taking in the form Yuto’s become. “My, my, what have we here?”_

_Yuto’s voice is cold, unfeeling, “Have you come to destroy everything, too?” he asks and starts gathering up energy again. Fists were raised and punches thrown, the stranger matching Yuto’s strength head on._

_When he comes to, the monster is gone―as are the crowd he started with. In their place is Yamada reaching out a hand for him._

Nostalgia creeps in to Yamada’s voice as he continues, “It felt like we'd always been friends somehow, despite the fact that we were trying to kill each other.”

“Right?” Yuto leaps into the memory with a laugh. His tone sobers up. “I only wanted to protect them, the people I love, but Raitei wrought destruction everywhere in his path. You brought me to my senses back then, the first and last time it’s become too late.”

Yamada scoffs, “Shut up,” but his eyes are tender. Yamada catches himself before he slips more into the memory, forcing himself to the present.

“There won’t be turning back now,” he reminds Yuto. He’s giving the younger man an out, an escape, and Yuto shakes his head.

“I’ve already made up my mind, Ryo-chan,” Yuto shoots back with determination. “You won’t be getting rid of me anytime soon.” He flashes his biggest smile at Yamada, and the other man smiles back.

They enter the Infinity Fortress together.

...

“This is all confusing,” Yuto complains, pulling at his own hair. They’ve been going in circles for the past hour, never seeming to find the right way forward.

“I thought you knew this place!” Yamada grumbles. He wishes he’d been holding a map, if only to hit Yuto upside the head with it.

“I lived in the Lower Town,” Yuto cries, soothing a spot on his head as if Yamada had actually hit him. “I’ve never tried to enter this part, and I didn’t ask Inoo-chan when he took a trip here.”

“It’s an intruder repelling mechanism,” a voice explains. “This is the Beltline, and it’s far from a fun place. Very few dare enter, and almost none of them ever make it back out alive.”

“Speak of the devil,” Yamada says, turning to acknowledge Inoo Kei. “I see you’ve got company.”

Takaki Yuya steps up from behind Inoo, with a small nod in greeting.

“What’d you tell Yua-chan that she’d let you out of her house, monkey boy?” Yamada teases.

Takaki’s eye twitches at the nickname, but is otherwise cool with it. At the mention of Shinkawa Yua with even a hint of mocking, a sound nothing short of a threat comes out of his lips. “Leave Yua out of this.”

“Maa, Ryo-chan, Takaki-kun,” Yuto intervenes, hands placating in their motion.

Inoo pipes in, “Let’s not destroy each other before we even get past this scramble.”

Yuto nods readily. Takaki turns his head away, his long hair swaying with the motion. Yamada silently follows.

Inoo finds a spot on the wall, his hand bouncing off of what’s supposed to be hard material. “I think we’ve found our way in,” he begins, probing at the wall some more.

Yamada pulls Inoo away from the wall, the claw that comes out missing Inoo’s face by a hairsbreadth.

“I owe you one,” Inoo admits, if a little begrudging.

“It won’t work like this. We’ll all be bits and pieces before we can cross to that side,” Takaki says.

A sudden wave of panic overcomes Yuto, and three pairs of eyes turn on him.

“What’s wrong?” Inoo asks, worry etched in his delicate features. The same is mirrored on Takaki’s face, and it turns to puzzlement at the expression on Yamada’s face.

It was with a flash of warning that Yamada turned on Yuto. “Yutti, the Raitei. Don’t let him take over.”

“I won’t. I just… felt something,” Yuto concentrates on channeling electricity into his arm, prodding at the wall the way Inoo did. When the claws begin coming out, Yuto powers up the electricity, holding the mystery creature in place while the rest of them passes through.

“From hereon out, it’ll be hell.” Yamada lowers his sunglasses. “Everyone, let’s make a good memory as we go. Look at me,” he holds everyone’s gaze, allowing them a minute of whatever good dream their hearts desire. “It’ll end in a minute.”

The sight that greets them at the end of the dimensional barrier, and the end of the dream by Yamada’s Evil Eye, is like straight from a nightmare. Kame’s hand sticking out of Jin’s chest, arms wrapping around Kame as he falls.

“Do you remember when we started unraveling the mystery of our stolen past?” Jin struggles with the effort to speak, but the words needed to be said. “I only managed to find out that it wasn’t up to us. So I stayed―waiting for the ones _who will_ ―keeping everything here in check for as much as I can, for as long as I did.”

“It’s okay now,” Kame tells Jin. “You can finally take a good rest.”

“I’m sorry, Kazu. Leaving you behind again.” Jin breathes.

“Idiot,” Kame berates, but his eyes are shiny with tears he won’t allow to shed, not in front of him.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Jin says, his hand touches the younger man’s cheek. “Just do me a favor please? See to the end of this.”

Yuto turns his head away, just as a teardrop starts falling from Kame’s face, and Jin disappears into thin air.

 _”Don’t avert your eyes, this is_ fate _as it unfolds.”_

“Fate?” Yamada roars at the disembodied voice. “You call this fate? Manipulating people’s feelings and leading them into the expected answers?

“I’m done with that. I won’t fall into what fate,” saying that last word with such contempt, “is telling me to do,” his fists curl at his side, shaking as Yamada tightens his grip.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have something I need to get back. I won’t let anyone, or anything, get in my way.”

“Ryo-chan,” Yuto starts. Yamada looks up at him, a smile only for him on his lips.

“You go on ahead, Yutti. Something I need to do first,” Yamada sees him off.

…

“I’ve been waiting,” Yaotome Hikaru welcomes Yuto, making sure he see the blood of his enemies on the floor. “Let me welcome you into what would be my castle.”

Takizawa watches on the sides, and Kame joins him.

“You? King? You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Yuto says, his voice cold. Light suddenly surrounds him, and when it fades to a less blinding intensity, the Raitei stands in his place. Electricity crackles throughout the air, gathering and cloaking him in sparks and static. His usually bright eyes turn expressionless, glazed in cold, hard fury. The enemy before him stands at the ready, the fearsome rage emanating from the Raitei rolling right over him as if it’s nothing.

“This could be fun,” Hikaru laughs, practically shaking with glee. “This is the Raitei at full power?”

Raitei zeroes in on Hikaru. “ _This world is born from my hands, for I alone am the lord of creation._ ”

Takizawa pales. “This is exactly what I was afraid of. Yuto’s no longer there. This is Raitei’s true form.

“This is the very image I saw when I got the mark on my eye. The one image that kept haunting my dreams, the reason why I left the Infinity Fortress―why I ran out on Yuto-kun.”

“Begone,” he practically growls. Raitei begins his attack.

...

“Cut the bullshit, you know Keito has nothing to do with this!” Yamada growls. His hands are clenched into fists, trembling with the effort to keep himself in check. Damn Chinen Yuri and his cuteness.

Chinen Yuri sneers, “I am merely a transporter. I take the job purely for the entertainment it provides. And if it means taking Keito all the way here to see you unlock your full potential, it’s already amusement above measure.”

Yamada raises his fist, the desire to wipe that expression off of Chinen’s face growing stronger, but then he hears it―

_”Goodbye.”_

The words were faint, carried over to him from an entirely different plane, but Yamada pales upon hearing them. The finality of that single uttered word brings more fear in him than the cold, unfeeling voice that delivered it, and for a moment, he freezes.

“Yutti,< i>no,” Yamada curses, mostly to himself, his focus solely on getting to where Yuto is. “How dare you even _think―_ ” he cuts himself off, already springing into action. He raises his hand, channeling energy into it in preparation for breaking through the wall between him and Yuto.

He arrives a second too late, Yuto crumbling to dust just as Yamada reaches out to him. Yamada’s hand curls into a fist, grains of sand slipping out from them. His arm trembles as he brings it down, letting it flop uselessly at his side.

“There’s no need to be sad, Yama-chan,” a voice tells him.

Yamada whips his head towards the source, finding Hikaru with a serene smile directed at him. An inhuman sound tears from his throat. “You―” Yamada’s fists flies straight to Hikaru’s face.

“Yuto, he won the battle,” Hikaru reports, rubbing at the sore spot. “Just look closely.”

He points to the pile of dust where he watched Yuto crumble. Yamada watches as Yuto rises from the pile, rubbing dust off of his shoulders.

“Raitei was the embodiment of Yuto’s rage. The endless grief that Yuto experienced resonated within the Infinity Fortress and thus created Raitei.

_**Teardrops** , scraped knees, and a spilled bag of precious candy._

_A helping hand, although equal of size and just as dirty, a big smile, and suddenly … **blood**._

_A fallen body, eyes wide and **eternally empty**._

_A flash of **light** , crackling thunder, and (nothing remains)._

_Takizawa’s retreating back, walking away, never to return._

Yuto’s tears fall freely, a long string of _”No, no, no,”_ falling from his lips. His hands are drawn up his head, over his ears, as though to block everything out.

“Everything’s been set up for this very moment to happen. The true battle for the right to be _creator._ ”

He’s not sure who says those words. Yuto’s eyes widens, shock etched all over his face, when he takes a hit square on his jaw. The force of it has him reeling back, and he barely has time to find his footing when Yamada strikes again, over and over. Yuto doesn’t hit back, taking everything Yamada’s giving him.

“Come on, you can’t seriously just stand there, you know what’s at stake.” Yamada goads as he prepares for another blow.

Yuto shakes his head. “I can’t, Ryo-chan. I can’t. Not like this.”

“Well then. It ends here, Yuto,” Yamada says, the proper use of Yuto’s name coupled by solemnity of his tone accentuating the direness of their situation. He prepares to strike, a final act to end the younger man’s misery, and it catches him off-guard when all Yuto does is embrace him.

“I’ve always looked up to you―the you who is so strong, so determined,” Yuto starts. “There even came a time when I was envious of that strength,” Yuto’s voice trembles with emotion, and Yamada feels the younger man’s chest rise with a few deep breaths.

Yamada feels something wet drop onto his cheek on Yuto’s next exhale, and he’s pretty sure it’s the younger man’s tears. He listens, stunned, to Yuto’s words.

“You showed me something I can never hope to find anywhere else, or with anyone else. More than the strength I desire, I saw your kindness. I can’t ever fight you.”

“Is that your answer?” Yamada asks. He’s trapped in Yuto’s embrace, his hand still poised to kill.

Yuto has the advantage to strike back, but his only response is to tighten his embrace. “Yup. I believe in Ryo-chan,” he tells Yamada.

Yamada smiles into Yuto’s chest, leaning into the embrace, before he pulls back. “Just one minute.” The killing intent melts right out of Yamada’s being, at the same time that the illusion shatters. His hands are gentle as he reaches up to wipe away the only real trace of what transpired: Yuto’s tears. “It’s your win, Yutti.”

A long flight of stairs materializes before them, and Yamada nudges him up the steps. “It’s the way to Babylon City, Yutti.”

“I won?” Yuto asks, puzzled. “But how? Earlier, you and I―”

“It’s because you believe in him,” Keito speaks up. He lets that thought sink into Yuto before he continues, “and in the same way, Yama-chan believes in you.”

“There’s only one person who can enter at a time, and that is not me,” Yamada tells Yuto. “Go, so you can get them back. They live there, right? Your family.”

“But Ryo-chan,” Yuto starts, and Yamada presses a finger to his lips.

“You should go,” Yamada says. He narrows his eyes, as if daring Yuto to speak. “No buts, no protests, because you won the battle fair and square.”

“What is fair and square when we didn’t even actually fight?” Yuto counters, but before Yamada can say anything else, someone speaks up.

“Perhaps you should listen to Ryosuke,” Chinen says, a butter knife appearing out of thin air to point at Yamada’s neck, “or he dies right here.”

That shuts Yuto up immediately. He knows Yamada can take care of himself just fine, but he takes heed all the same. Nobody really would want to cross someone like Chinen, however silly his weapon of choice may seem.

“Go on, your mother’s waiting.” Yamada says. And so, with a last smile for Yamada, Yuto mounts the steps.

When the steps disappear completely, Yamada allows himself to fall. Keito is there to catch him before he hits the ground.

“Yama-chan, you _idiot_ ,” Keito cries.

“This is the thanks I get for coming to save you? I’m deeply hurt, Keito,” Yamada says, making light of the gloomy mood surrounding them.

“I’m not talking about that,” Keito cries some more. “How could you have made such a decision? How many times have you used the Evil Eye today?”

“I, yeah.” Yamada sobers up, “I don’t have much time now. Soon enough I’ll disappear without a trace, even from everyone’s memories. That’s what I get for using it a fourth time, but if it’s to keep all of you safe, it’s more than worth the risk.”

“And that’s why you’re an idiot,” Keito holds younger man close, all the while pounding Yamada’s chest with his fists. There’s no real force behind it, he just doesn’t know what to do with his hands.

“I know,” Yamada apologizes, “I’m sorry.” He halts Keito’s hand on his chest, reaches up to dry the tears on the other man’s eyes. “That sadness will only be temporary; it’s going to be okay.”

“How?”

 _“Perhaps a parting gift is in order?”_ Chinen pipes up from out of nowhere, and suddenly a knife flies right by.

Yamada looks down at the knife sticking out of his chest. He glares at the room at large, grumbling with his last breath, _“Dammit, Chii.”_

Keito snaps out of his stupor, carrying Yamada and laying him gently on more solid ground.

…

“So, Nakajima Yuto-kun, lord of creation, welcome―” Ohgo Suzuka greets Yuto with a smile.

Yuto just stares blankly at her, unsure of how to respond. He’s sure he knows this person, and he just blurts out the name, “Hevn-san?”

“Ah, perhaps you’ve mistaken me for someone else?” Suzuka bows in apology. “My name is Ohgo Suzuka. I’ve lived here for all of 20 years. I’m in university studying physics, and I’m writing my graduate thesis under Professor―” Suzuka hushes herself, “I’m saying too much about myself, I’m supposed to be welcoming you.

“Anyhow, welcome to Shinjuku.”

“It’s eerily familiar,” Yuto says, taking in his surroundings.

“This Shinjuku is quite clean, and the economy is doing better. The underground is pretty much cleared of the homeless, thanks to affordable clustered housing. The red light district remains the same, and gangs still run rampant, but nothing is outrageously out of the ordinary. Unlike the Shinjuku where you came from, there is no Infinity Fortress here.”

Suzuka leads the way, taking Yuto to the spots he knows and showing him how it’s different, while he shares his own thoughts.

“There’s someone you have to meet, Yuto-kun,” Suzuka says when they reach a certain spot in the city.

“Wait, why are we at the cemetery, then?” he asks, but Yuto follows anyway. Suzuka leads them through aisles and eventually reach a secluded spot. Someone is already there, offering respects at one of the graves.

Yuto expects a woman, but what they find is a teenaged boy about as tall as he is, with very similar features to his own.

“Who’s there?” the boy asks, taking notice of the strangers. “Were you going to visit someone?”

“Um. Not exactly. I came to meet someone, and Suzuka-chan led me here―” Yuto explains, looking around for the girl in question. “Eh, she’s not here?”

The teenaged boy laughs. “You’re interesting.”

The laughter dies down soon enough, and it’s Yuto who breaks the silence that follows. “Who are you visiting here?”

“It’s my older brother,” the teenager starts. “Mama lost him when I was just a year old, so I don’t have any of memories of him. I only know that he chose my name. Every year she visits this place, waiting for someone. But she can’t get around now, not without her eyesight. So I go in her stead.”

Yuto looks into the grave marker, and his eyes widen in shock. Written on the stone is _Nakajima Yuto_. The teenager doesn’t take notice, as immersed as he was in his story.

“I really would’ve wanted to meet him. For my sake, and hers too, she wanted him back. Mama was a genius. With brains like hers, she could’ve done it with ease. But even if she could make an exact copy of my brother, it still wouldn’t be him.”

“That’s a harsh thought,” Yuto interrupts.

“It quite _is_. But she wished for an ideal world where nii-chan could exist, so she made something similar to this one. At the heart of it was an artificial intelligence system that can sustain itself and develop on its own, with all possibilities and things from this world―even chaos.”

“Um, that’s a lot to take in,” Yuto admits.

Laughter bubbles its way out of the teenager again, “I know, sorry. I’m actually just repeating what mama told me, and it’s all jumbled in my head, too.

“Anyhow, the history of this world and that were one and the same, because it was intended to serve as a back-up. But then somewhere along the road, the history of that world diverged from ours, until it became a dark version of this world―what you’ve come to know as the Infinity Fortress.

“It became so far removed from mama’s ideal, and it was all because someone opposed from within their ranks. So, for mama who wanted a peaceful world, she wrote a self-formatting program within the AI. That other world would be rebuilt from its very bases, the slate wiped clean to start anew.

“For that to begin, one person from that world had to be chosen as the creator.”

Yuto takes all of that in. “If that person’s me…”

“Will you be able to help us?”

“Then, I… I’d like to choose my world,” Yuto starts, “It’s chaotic, it’s painful, and the stress of everyday life seems too much to bear, but I’m never unhappy. I want that world to exist with everything I know in it―my friends and enemies alike, even the people I’ve yet to meet.

“That’s what I’d like to get back,” Yuto finishes with a resolute smile. He turns and finally finds Suzuka standing at the sides. “Suzuka-chan, I think we can go now.”

Suzuka meets Yuto halfway.

The teenaged boy reaches up to his ear, tapping at the device mounted there. “Mama,” the boy says in a low voice. “You’ve heard it all, yes?”

From a distance, Yuto’s voice rings loud and clear, “Thanks, Raiya. Please tell mama I said hi!”

…

Yuto slowly returns to consciousness. _Oblivion, darkness._

He raises a hand. _From nothingness, to dust, to something palpable._

_Light._

From between his spread fingers, Yuto sees a bright blue sky. He lowers that hand and uses it to slowly sit up.

He’d felt it as he climbed up the steps, that Yamada had… died. Yuto hangs his head. “Ryo-chan, I―”

“What’re you calling my name for?” Yamada’s voice rings from the sides, and Yuto instantly turns towards the sound.

“You’re alive!” Yuto exclaims, arms wide open and rushing at Yamada. Yamada lets himself be smothered by Yuto’s embrace, a small victory that rarely ever happens.

“’Course I am,” Yamada replies. “All thanks to you,” he adds, low enough that Yuto almost thinks he’d misheard.

“I met Hevn-san while I was there, but she’s so different from the one we know. She even said so herself, said her name was Ohgo Suzuka. Suzuka-chan took me around the city,” Yuto shares. “I also met my little brother. He talked about something sad. I don’t remember details, though, I really would’ve loved to see our mama, too. Raiya’s grown so much! A few more inches and he’d totally be taller than me!”

“Where are we?” Yuto asks, looking around. “Ryo-chan, what happened to the Infinity Fortress?” voice growing agitated when he doesn’t see the familiar tower anywhere.

Yamada waits a beat, _one, two,_ as he suppresses a giggle. “Yutti, it’s right underneath us. We’re on the rooftop of the Infinity Fortress.”

Yuto lets that piece of information sink in, breathing a sigh of relief. “It was a nice dream, really. It would’ve been good to have that―”

“A dream, huh,” Yamada does the same, his head low and face hidden from Yuto’s vantage point.

“―but I’d rather be where Ryo-chan is,” Yuto insists.

A smile breaks into Yamada’s face, and he raises his head so Yuto can see. “Shall we head home?”


End file.
